Broke Extroverts Spend More Money on Luxury Items Than Broke…

Introverts and extroverts often have different management styles and diverge in their approach to networking. Now, a new study from University College London looking at the spending patterns of low-income individuals has found that extroverts have a tendency to compensate by spending more on products and experiences that are associated with a higher financial status.

The researchers worked with 718 participants — all customers at the same bank — that volunteered information about their job and income, how much they had in their savings account, whether they were in debt, their age and how much and how often they withdrew cash from their accounts. The participants gave researchers access to their bank account data from the previous 12 months.

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They also filled out a questionnaire about how they stacked up when it came to the five core personality traits — agreeableness, conscientiousness, extraversion, neuroticism and openness to experience.

Purchases were also put into categories. International air travel, tech gadgets and cultural institutions fell into the high status category while spending at discount stores, pawnbrokers and salvage yards were put into the low status category.

The low-income participants who were highly extroverted spent more on things in the high-status category compared to participants who were not as extroverted, even after taking into account savings, debt, age and job status. However, as income increased, the researchers found that personality was less of a driver in how people spent their money.